CE 3.1.5 Comparatively analyze two or more literary or expository texts, comparing how and why similar themes are treated differently, by different authors, in different types of text, in different historical periods, and/or from different cultural perspectives. CE 3.1.7 Analyze and evaluate the portrayal of various groups, societies, and cultures in literature and other texts. CE 3.1.9 Analyze how the tensions among characters, communities, themes, and issues in literature and other texts reflect human experience.
NETS-S:
3.b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media 3.c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks 3.d. Process data and report results
Essential Questions:
What is dystopia? What is utopia? How is Jonas’ society a dystopia? How is Jonas’ society a utopia? In what ways can other dystopian/utopian works be compared to The Giver?
Objectives:
Students will complete a Hotlist assignment, which will require them to view websites selected by the teacher, and then write a response to questions/follow directions (provided next to each link) regarding the information found on the given sites in relation to the novel.
Tools and Resources:
The novel The Giver by Lois Lowry
Teacher provided websites
Internet connected computers
Reading Journal
Rationale:
This lesson is an interactive way for students to apply outside information to the novel being studied in class. Also, it will help students to better understand the theme of society in The Giver. The use of the internet also allows students to get information from more than one source easily.
Sequence of Activities:
Anticipatory Questions/Activity:
Students will be given 5 minutes to respond in their reading journals to the following prompt: How is Jonas’ Community different from your own or similar to your own?
Body of Lesson Plan: Segment #1
After the students respond in their journals, the teacher will move the class to a computer lab. Once in the computer lab the teacher show students a Jing video that includes directions for the assignment and then give them the link to the Hotlist page they have created (__http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listthegiverb.html__). Students may work with a partner if they wish.
Segment #2
Each link found on the teacher’s hotlist page includes directions written next to it. The students view each site and follow the direction that goes along with it. They will be given the rest of the class period to work on this assignment. In the next class period the students will resume working on their Hotlist assignment for the first 25 minutes of class.
Segment #3
After students have completed their Hotlist assignment, the teacher will move the class back to the classroom and for the rest of the period they will call on students to answer the following questions: How might Jonas’ society be a dystopia? How might Jonas’ society be a utopia? From the third link, what dystopian elements did you list that you have seen in The Giver? What are some reasons you feel dystopian/utopian literature has been consistently popular? From the fifth link, what were some things you found in “The Ultimate Philosophy” that you could compare to Jonas’ society? Why do you think Lois Lowry chose to depict Jonas’ society as a utopia first and then slowly revealed its dystopian aspects? In the artwork from the seventh link, what reminded you of The Giver? In the poem from the eighth link, what reminded you of The Giver? In the short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., what reminded you of The Giver? What are some of the positive aspects of Sameness? What are some of the negative aspects of Sameness? Students will be able to respond to other students answers in between questions.
Segment #4
Step 1: Students will go to the link provided by the teacher. Step 2: Students will visit each link and read the information found there. Step 3: Students will follow the directions next to each link. They should end up with written responses in paragraph or chart form to each prompt given by the links. Step 4: Before leaving class students will hand in their responses from their Hotlist assignment. *This assignment can be done with ONE partner or individually.
Lesson Plan 1 RB
Lesson Plan 2 RB
Lesson Plan 3 RB
Lesson Plan 4 RB
Lesson Plan 5 RB
This Jing video gives the directions for the Hotlist Assignment.
Hotlist Assignment
CE 3.1.7 Analyze and evaluate the portrayal of various groups, societies, and cultures in literature and other texts.
CE 3.1.9 Analyze how the tensions among characters, communities, themes, and issues in literature and other texts reflect human experience.
and ethically use information from a variety of
sources and media
3.c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital
tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
3.d. Process data and report results
Segment #1
How might Jonas’ society be a dystopia?
How might Jonas’ society be a utopia?
From the third link, what dystopian elements did you list that you have seen in The Giver?
What are some reasons you feel dystopian/utopian literature has been consistently popular?
From the fifth link, what were some things you found in “The Ultimate Philosophy” that you could compare to Jonas’ society?
Why do you think Lois Lowry chose to depict Jonas’ society as a utopia first and then slowly revealed its dystopian aspects?
In the artwork from the seventh link, what reminded you of The Giver?
In the poem from the eighth link, what reminded you of The Giver?
In the short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., what reminded you of The Giver?
What are some of the positive aspects of Sameness?
What are some of the negative aspects of Sameness?
Students will be able to respond to other students answers in between questions.
Step 2: Students will visit each link and read the information found there.
Step 3: Students will follow the directions next to each link. They should end up with written responses in paragraph or chart form to each prompt given by the links.
Step 4: Before leaving class students will hand in their responses from their Hotlist assignment.
*This assignment can be done with ONE partner or individually.